Frost in the Garden and Brassica Update

We have been receiving numerous thick frosts the last few weeks. I like photographing frost so I have been out a couple times to photograph it. The best time to photograph frost is in the middle of winter like in the photo below which was taken in winter 2005. If we receive a few warm days which creates fog followed by a fast cool down the fog will freeze over night and creates hoar frost. Hoar frost most often occurs near bodies of water.

This was taken in winter 2005. This was the thickest hoar
frost I had ever seen. This was taken beside the Grand River.

The photo's below are of the broccoli and brussel sprouts, they have been recently taken. The brassica's don't seem to be bothered even by the hardest frost.

Brussel Sprout Leaf

Broccoli Leaf

Brussel Sprouts taken in the morning frosted

Brussel Sprouts taken in the afternoon after
the frost has dissipated.

I think I will put the row cover permanently over the broccoli if we get a prolonged cool down but so far it has been fine left out in the open. The broccoli is just starting to form flower heads so fingers crossed it stays just warm enough for them to produce.

Broccoli Bud. In the summer from this stage to harvest
was about 2-3 weeks, with the cold I am guessing it will
take longer. We are supposed to have some warm days
over the next couple weeks so maybe it will speed it up

The brussel sprouts are starting to fatten up so I am hoping I can harvest them by the first couple weeks of December. They may be under 6 inches of snow by then but I have heard they can take snow. I have put a post on garden web about how to get the sprouts to grow faster and evenly. I was told that you should top the brussel sprout plants 4-6 weeks before you want to harvest. I am going to give this a try because the sprouts that are closer to the top are only the size of marbles.

These are the larger sprouts, they
need to double to be at the
proper size.